All posts in Press Coverage

OECD and Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters extended to cover Gibraltar.

Coinciding with the signing of the Gibraltar-UK Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) to improve international tax compliance on 21 November 2013, the OECD announced that the United Kingdom had deposited declarations extending the territorial scope of the OECD and Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters to cover Gibraltar.

HM Government of Gibraltar signs Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the United Kingdom to improve international tax compliance (FATCA).

The Hon. Albert Isola MP, Minister with responsibility for Financial Services, signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between Gibraltar and the United Kingdom to improve international tax compliance on Thursday 21 November 2013.

The International Monetary Fund’s report of May 2007 (Country Report No. 07/154) noted that ‘Gibraltar has a well-regulated financial sector. The Gibraltar authorities are concerned with protecting the reputation and integrity of Gibraltar as a financial centre, and are cognizant of the importance of adopting and applying international regulatory standards and best supervisory practices. Gibraltar has a good reputation internationally for cooperation and information sharing.’

Can the Commission state whether it has ever received a well-founded complaint regarding an alleged failure by the Government of Gibraltar to provide or exchange information or failure to collaborate generally on tax, financial services or money laundering matters?

EN E-010033/2013 Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

To date the Commission has not received complaints meeting the description given by the Honourable Member.

Heidi Bocarisa, Head of the Banking, E-Money and Investment Services Division commented;

“E-money in all its forms provides opportunities for the financial community to offer services to those who have previously been excluded from historic banking services. Additionally, with the increasing pressure to innovate and adapt, new technologies now provide innovative solutions to other age old problems. Cash, and the handling of it, can be cumbersome and expensive for financial institutions and businesses. It has also become a barrier to an effective economic system. We believe that Gibraltar is ideally located to expand its offering of well regulated and competitive solutions to this need”.

“As an Association and a Business active in the E-money sector, we welcome this move by the FSC. We believe Gibraltar is an opportune jurisdiction within Europe from which to offer E-money services given the significant growth experienced within the industry.

On 24 July 2013, the Commission adopted a legislative package in the field of the EU payments framework. This package which proposes a revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2) and a Regulation on Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIFs) will help the payments framework to better serve the needs of an effective European payments market, fully contributing to a payments environment which nurtures competition, innovation and security to the benefits of all stakeholders and consumers in particular. Modernisation of the legislative framework for retail payments was also defined as one of the key actions of the Commission Single Market Act II and is inter alia a response to the Commission’s Green Paper “Towards an integrated European market for card, internet and mobile payments” of 2012.

Gibraltar Payments Companies Form E-Money Association

Members of the payments business community in Gibraltar recently have formed the Gibraltar Electronic Money Association (GEMA) to promote the Mediterranean country as the location of choice for global payment service providers. Member businesses include Wave Crest, IDT Financial Services, Transact Network, Payoneer EU and Ramparts. Daniel Spier, managing director of IDT, serves as GEMA chairman. GEMA, which held its inaugural meeting earlier this month, is adopting a collaborative approach to further common goals and to help solve issues within the industry, according to an announcement. GEMA also hopes to work more effectively alongside the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the government’s regulatory body. “The FSC is supportive of the electronic money industry and is working closely with the industry for an efficient regulatory environment which complements the innovative approach of this sector,” said FSC CEO Marcus Killick.

E-Money men establish new Association

Electronic commerce is one of the most rapidly expanding developments in modern international finance – with e-money topping the growth charts. So this month’s establishment of the Gibraltar E-Money Association (GEMA) will prove increasingly significant to the Rock’s financial sector in the months and years ahead.

Though the numbers of firms involved in this aspect remain small, their operations are growing, and the turn-out at the inaugural meeting of GEMA represented all five companies working in this sector. And its importance was acknowledged by Financial Service Commission CEO Markus Killick, who interrupted a series of overseas appointments to be present.

One of GEMA’s main objectives is to ‘work in an open, supportive and collaborative manner with the FSC…and to attract high quality new members to Gibraltar as a fast growing and well regarded payments jurisdiction’.

Daniel Spier, managing director of IDT, was elected chairman of the new association, with Peter Howitt of Ramparts its secretary/treasurer. Other members include IDT’s Gonzalo Guinea; Colin Piri and Brent Almeida of Wavecrest; Justine Gilder and Damian Asquez of Transact; and Howard Gibbs and Mark Taylor of Payoneer.